Srinagar Court on Tuesday granted bail to one of the accused Vinoth John Kennedy in alleged multi-crore fraud by Curative Survey Private Limited.
After hearing prosecution and defence counsels advocate Aamir Masoodi and advocate Iqra Nazir, the Court of Forest Magistrate, Srinagar, presided over by Feroz Ahmad Khan, observed that charge-sheet in the case has been filed by the Police which means that the investigation of the case is complete and custody of accused for personal interrogation is not required.
Court further observed that object of bail is to secure the appearance of the accused person at his trial by reasonable amount of bail.
“The object of bail is neither punitive nor preventive. Deprivation of liberty must be considered a punishment unless it can be required to ensure that an accused person will stand his trial when called upon,” Court said.
Court observed that accused has been in custody for a period of more than three months, weighs in the mind of this court and a balance between the rights of the accused as to his liberty and larger public interest of the society has to be struck.
“Accordingly, the application for grant of bail is allowed,” Court said.
Earlier, while referring to various provisions of law and Supreme Court judgments, defence counsel Advocate Aamir Masoodi submitted that severity of punishment is very less and punitive clause doesn’t prescribe punishment beyond seven years in the present case.
“My client is not required for custodial interrogation as he is lodged in judicial custody now,” he added.
On 31 December 2023, J&K Police said that it identified six individuals connected to the fraudulent activities of ‘Curative Survey Private Limited, and arrested one person from Tamil Nadu.
The accused company is alleged to have duped hundreds of people across Jammu and Kashmir in lieu of providing sustained monthly income after paying registration fee and participating in online surveys. [KNT]